Once Upon A Time
by Drea LuRuiz
Summary: Shelby Corcoran's last chance at being a mother was snatched away, now seventeen years later she comes face to face with her past but it's nothing she could have ever imagined.


**Okay so I found this hidden in my stack of old notebooks (I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to notebooks, don't know why) ANYWAYS… I'm excited for you guys to read this and hope you enjoy it. Oh and Shuck NEVER happened nor did Quinn planting shit in Shelby's apartment. And Still I Dream should be updated tomorrow- I mean later today! **

**Disclaimer: Obviously if I owned glee Idina Menzel would have been in every single episode since the pilot but we all know that didn't happen so…..**

**Enjoy **

* * *

After a long and tiring day the last thing Shelby Corcoran wanted to do was go grocery shopping, but the near empty cabinets and refrigerator in her home said otherwise. She was currently trying to decide on what granola cereal to buy, with almonds or not was the only thing on her mind, little did she know something much bigger would be coming her way soon. Rolling her eyes at the amount of time she was spending on picking a damn box of cereal she tossed both in her cart and walked further down the aisle. She stopped in front of the oatmeal section and looked at the different packages, she wasn't a huge fan but she craved it at times. Shelby quickly picked the box of maple and brown sugar and turned back to her cart but smacked into someone and dropped the box.

"Crap! I'm so sorry." The young blonde apologized picking up the box and scrambling to her feet.

"It's okay." Shelby replied.

"No, it's not I wasn't looking- I should've been paying attention." The girl looked into Shelby's eyes.

Shelby saw sensed something familiar about the girl standing in front of her but pushed it to the back of her mind.

"Really its fine I'm alive…no harm no foul." Shelby smiled.

"I'm a bit of a klutz… umm here you go." She said handing Shelby the box of oatmeal.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." The girl nodded and looked around.

"Do you need help finding something?" Shelby questioned.

"Yes, I haven't been here in a while and they changed the layout so I guess I'm a little lost." She replied.

"Well tell me what you're looking for and I'll point you in the right direction."

"Tea and coffee, but I'm guessing they still have those in the same aisle."

"That they do and how about I take you over there?" Shelby offered.

"Oh no that's okay I think I've disturbed you enough." She said and pushed her hair behind her ear.

"You didn't and actually I needed to get coffee anyways so it's not out of my way." She assured.

"Okay… thank you." She smiled.

Shelby led them down the center aisle and turned near the front of the store, entering the aisle that included tea and her beloved coffee.

"Here we are."

"Thank you so much."

"No problem." Shelby replied.

"Have a nice day." She waved and headed towards the tea.

Shelby turned towards the coffee and immediately grabbed her usual two containers and put them inside her cart, thanking whoever made such a glorious creation.

"Bee!" Shelby turned to her left and saw a young green-eyed brunette coming down the aisle. ", there you are! I've been looking all over this damn store for you." The girl said and put her hands on her hips in a stern manner that made Shelby chuckle softly.

"Okay seriously you look like mom and its creepy so- down, Simba." The blonde said and turned back to looking at the different bags of tea.

"Whatever… geez how long does it take to get tea?" the younger girl asked while looking at her phone.

"Shut up already… and I forgot which tea she asked for."

"Of course you did, I think mom should start putting sticky notes on your forehead so you don't forget what you're supposed to do." The girl grinned.

"Why are you here?"

"Well due to what I'm sure was an irresponsible action on mom and dad's part, unsafe sex has its consequences you know." She smirked.

Shelby was grabbing a loaf of bread when she heard that being said and laughed silently, she hadn't been eavesdropping per say, she could just hear what was being said and couldn't help but be amused by the two girls' conversation.

"Okay firstly… gross." The girl shuddered ", secondly-"she was interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

"It's probably mom… no it's more than likely mom." The brunette said.

"Hey mom." she was silent listening to her mother talk on the other end "Yeah, I'm still here… because I forgot what tea you asked for."

The brunette stood next to her and snickered, earning a shove from the taller blonde.

"Okay we'll be waiting." She hung up and pocketed her phone.

"Beth, did you have to shove me so hard?" she younger girl asked rubbing where she had hit her arm on the shelf.

Shelby heard the name being said and whipped around to look at the girl again. This time she really looked at her; the blonde hair, bright smile, small nose, and most importantly the hazel eyes that she looked into every morning for months. It was her…Beth, the daughter she didn't get to raise, the sweet baby she grew to love with all of her heart. This couldn't be happening, was this some crazy dream?

"Not necessarily but you were bugging so… yeah I had to use force." She shrugged.

Neither of the girls noticed Shelby was frozen in her spot nor staring at Beth with wide eyes. It was in that instant the Shelby realized Beth had just talked to her 'mom' which brought up the memory from that day seventeen years ago.

_This was all just a nightmare she had no idea how the hell this happened. It was all beginning to be too much to handle, as soon as recess was called Shelby headed outside to get some fresh air to clear her mind. She sat on a nearby bench and closed her eyes and breathed in the sweet smell of the magnolia tree, when she opened her eyes she saw a brunette looking into her purse walking by and instantly recognized who it was._

"_Rachel?" she called to the girl._

_Rachel stopped walking and turned to looked at Shelby, she locked eyes with her birth mother before clearing her throat and looking away._

"_Shelby, hi." She said politely._

"_Hi, what are you doing here?" she asked but not unkindly._

"_I uh- I came to see Quinn." She replied._

"_Quinn? Do you know why she's here?" asked furrowing her eyebrows._

"_Yes, I know that she's… suing you for custody of Beth." She answered._

"_And you're supporting her?!" Shelby asked incredulously. _

"_She's my friend." Rachel replied softly._

"_She's trying to take away my baby, Rachel."_

"_What do you want me to say, Shelby?" Rachel asked sadly._

"_I- I don't know, but you can't possibly agree with what she's doing." Shelby angrily replied._

"_I'm simply here for moral support, no matter what happens I'm just trying to be there for a friend."_

"_Your __friend__ is trying to take my child away from me and you're supporting her?" Shelby was so frustrated and scared about this entire situation that she didn't even register the hurt look on Rachel's face._

"_I don't have to explain myself to you, so if you'll excuse me I need to go find Quinn." Rachel replied flatly._

"_Rachel, wait." Shelby said but the girl was already walking away, she caught up to the girl and reached for her arm and stopped her "Rachel just- you have to understand where I'm coming from. Beth is mine." Shelby said with teary eyes. _

"_I've raised her, feed, clothed, sheltered and loved her. And- and Quinn just wants to ruin all of that by coming in and taking her." Shelby ranted._

"_Dammit Shelby, __you__ are the one who came back here and __you__are the one who paraded Beth around. You have no idea how hard this has been for Quinn, all the pain she's gone through since she gave Beth up. But she was finally getting better and she started to move on and then you just showed up out of the blue!" Rachel shouted._

"_I'm sorry that I just showed up without warning, I didn't know this would happen. And I do know the type of pain Quinn felt, okay? I know what it's like to not be able to see your baby."_

"_Yeah except Quinn did it out of love, I was just your meal ticket." Rachel said _

"_Rachel, that isn't true." Shelby whispered._

"_Quinn isn't like you, she has a heart." _

"_Rachel-" Shelby looked at her with tears in her eyes._

"_It's true, Quinn is doing something that you never bothered doing."_

"_And what's that? You mean ruining a family?" Shelby scoffed._

"_Fighting! She's fighting!" Rachel screamed._

_Shelby looked shocked not expecting her daughter to have responded like that._

"_You brought Beth back and she's going to fight for her daughter. She's doing this for herself but more importantly for Beth, even if she doesn't win at least she'll know she tried." Rachel replied shakily._

"_Beth is mine, Rachel! Don't you understand that?" Shelby asked with tears rolling down her face._

"_I need to go." Rachel said and turned to walk into the courthouse, but stopped. "Shelby?" she looked back at her mother._

"_Yes?" Shelby replied._

"_When Beth is 35 and married with her own kids, do you think she'll still need her mom?"_

"_Of course, it doesn't matter what age she is she'll always need-" Shelby let the question sink in as she looked into her daughter's eyes and realized the mistake she made with her, she finally saw the vulnerable side of Rachel, all the hurt and pain that was held inside her chocolate eyes. The ones she instilled in her because of her selfishness, she had hurt her daughter, the one person in the entire world she swore to protect and never hurt. _

"_Yeah I guess you're right." Rachel replied softly before turning away._

"_Rachel-" Shelby choked out. She felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest, the pain of losing her oldest daughter and the thought of possibly losing her youngest was unbearable._

…

"_My only concern is for the child and where I decided to place her wasn't easy, however I have reviewed all the information given to me very carefully and I believe I made the right choice. With that being said I hereby reinstate Lucy Quinn Fabray's parental rights and grant her full custody of Beth Fabray Corcoran."_

"_What?!" I was so in shock I couldn't believe what I had just heard. _

"_Ms. Fabray, take good care of that little girl." Judge Bradley said to the equally shocked but delighted young mother._

"_I will, Your Honor." Quinn replied with tears streaming down her face._

"_Ms. Corcoran, I have a social worker that will follow you to get the child and release her to her mother. Don't fight her on it or I'll have no choice but to have you arrested. Court is adjourned." _

"_No you can't do this!" I screamed._

"_Shelby, stop." I turned to see my lawyer and longtime friend, John Dawson, looking at me with his sad brown eyes._

"_Don't tell me what the fuck to do!" I bellowed._

"_Shel, please don't do this to yourself." He said holding onto my arms._

"_That asshole just told me my daughter is no longer mine!" _

"_I know." He sighed._

"_You were supposed to make sure this didn't happen, we have to do something!" I said beginning to panic. _

"_I'm sorry, Shelby. I'm so sorry."_

"_What good is sorry to me, did you hear what he said? I'm just supposed to hand my daughter over like a damn toy!" I ran out of the room and down the hallway to get to the front door. I needed air I felt like I was suffocating. I pushed through the large wooden doors and ran out to nearby trees and leaned onto it trying to catch my breath._

_This couldn't be happening it was all just some horrible nightmare, it had to be right?_

"_Shelby." I heard John say before he pulled me into his arms and I held on for dear life._

"_No." I choked out._

"_Yes." He whispered into my ear._

"_Ms. Corcoran." I heard a soft voice call out to me._

_I looked up to see an older woman presumably in her 50's with red hair and green eyes._

"_I'm Wendy Avina from social services. I'm afraid we're on a time schedule and we'll need to get Beth within the hour." she said._

"_Okay we're parked right that way." John replied._

"_I will follow behind you." She replied before walking away._

"_Come on, Shel." John said while pulling me up to stand and began walking us to my car, he opened the passenger door for me and buckled my seatbelt, before climbing into the driver side and starting the car._

_We made it to my condo in less than half an hour and John opened the door for me and took my hand. Once Wendy was behind us and we began making our way up the staircase and he pulled out my keys and unlocked the door._

"_Heather." He called out. Heather Landry was my neighbor's 19 year old daughter and she was very responsible and respectful. I suppose being the oldest out of five children teaches you plenty. I had decided not to tell her about what was taking place today because the thought that my daughter would be taken from me never crossed my mind._

"_Oh hey Mr. D, I thought you and Shelby wouldn't be back till later." She said coming down the hallway. It wasn't until she looked at me and then at Wendy that she asked, "Shelby, what's going on?"_

"_Where's Beth?" I asked not looking at her._

"_In her room, she just woke up from her nap." She answered._

_I looked at Wendy and she gave me a look but nodded, I quickly made my way into Beth's butterfly themed nursery. I walked over to the crib and looked down to see Beth trying to stick her favorite stuffed toy in her mouth._

"_Silly girl." I chuckled before taking away the toy and lifting her out of the crib. She grunted after the loss of her toy, but quickly grabbed a handful of my hair and stuck in her mouth. Normally I would have scolded her and pulled my hair away but none of that matter. I held onto her and inhaled her sweet scent and began crying._

"_I can't do this Beth, I can't let you go. I love you so much, my sweet girl."_

_She took my hair out of her mouth and placed her head on my shoulder, I sat on the rocking chair next to her changing table and began humming her favorite lullaby, it didn't take long for her to fall back asleep. _

"_Shelby," John came in and kneeled in front of me and stroked Beth's cheek._

_The second he looked into my eyes the tears began pouring, he pulled me up and held Beth and I. _

_John was more than just my lawyer and friend, he and I were high school sweethearts we've been on and off for the past ten years. He was my first love; he was there for me when I broke down after having Rachel and has always been there for me since, especially this past year it was safe to say he spent just as much time with Beth as I did._

"_It's time Shelby." He whispered into my ear._

"_I can't, please don't make me do this." I said holding onto Beth._

"_Ms. Corcoran," Wendy had made her way into the nursery with two officers behind her._

"_You brought the cops?" I asked bewildered._

"_It's standard procedure." She replied._

"_It's standard procedure to treat a woman like a common criminal when you're the ones taking my baby away from me?" _

"_Ma'am, hand the child over to Mrs. Avina." One of the officers ordered._

"_Please, just give me a few more minutes." I pleaded with the older woman._

"_I'm afraid I can't do that, I gave you more time to say goodbye than I'm allowed." She replied heavily._

"_Please?" I begged holding Beth tight against me and began planting kisses on her head._

"_Ma'am hand over the child over, or we'll have to arrest you." The other officer replied._

"_That won't be necessary, Officer." John said trying to ease the tension in the room._

"_Don't let them do this, John. Please? You know I'm not a bad mother." I said looking into his eyes pleading with him to try and stop this._

"_Shelby," he held my face in his hands wiping away the tears that had fallen down my face "you know if it were up to me Beth wouldn't be going anywhere. There's nothing I can do anymore, I'm sorry." He said with tear filled eyes._

"_Ms. Corcoran, I'm sorry but I need to take her now." the woman came over to me and took Beth from my arms, once Beth was settled she turned and began walking to the front door._

_I stood frozen with John holding me from behind, I didn't snap out of my stupor until I heard Heather begging them to leave Beth._

"_You can't do this to them, they're a family!" she cried._

"_Young lady, you need to stay back." I heard one of the officers reply._

"_No! Beth is Shelby's daughter!" she yelled._

_I ran from the nursery with John hot on my trail and looked on with wide eyes at the scene before me. One of the officers was standing in front of Wendy and Beth acting as a shield while the other was blocking Heather from getting near Beth._

"_You need to get back, kid." the officer blocking her said._

"_Go fuck yourself." She spat._

"_Heather, stop!" John demanded._

"_You can't let them do this!"_

"_This was the judge's decision there is nothing I can do."_

_She looked at me with such broken eyes that I had to look away from her, she sobbed and grabbed her bag and ran out the front door._

_Wendy and the officers went to the front door and were about to walk out when I spotted something._

"_Wait!"_

"_Ms. Corcoran, please don't make this harder than it already is." The woman said._

_I walked to the couch and grabbed the soft fabric that caught my attention._

"_Here," I handed over the pink blanket to her, "she won't sleep without it, if she starts fussing give it to her." I didn't say anything else as she walked out taking my baby with her._

___It was then that everything hit me like a ton of bricks, my body gave out and I fell to the ground and cried. I cried for the daughter I never got the chance to raise and for the daughter who was snatched away faster than I could have ever imagined. How was supposed to move on from this? Would I ever move on from it?_

* * *

Laughter pulled Shelby out of her memory, Beth's laugh, one that had changed over the years. She was laughing with this girl, her sister and Shelby watched as the brunette made different impressions of their mother that had Beth laughing so hard tears were falling down her face.

"Beth? Bee?" a voice called out.

"Over here, Mom!" Beth replied while the two were trying to get their laughter under control.

This was it; Shelby couldn't move she knew that as soon as Quinn Fabray laid eyes on her, Beth would be out of her sight forever.

"I swear I cannot send either of you girls to get something as simple as a box of tea without-"

"Rachel?" Shelby asked shocked at seeing her daughter for the first time after seventeen years. A lot had changed with Rachel, she no longer had the face of a child, but one of a woman. The long, dark locks that she had were gone as her hair fell just below her shoulders, with blonde highlights. The old sweater, skirt and knee high socks were replaced with a royal blue button up shirt, dark jeans and boots. Her daughter was a beautiful young girl, but now she was a gorgeous woman and Shelby had missed out on that.

"Shelby?" Rachel looked at her mother with surprise.

"Yeah mom, I'm listening." The young brunette replied without looking away from her phone.

"What?" Rachel looked to the two girls, who weren't paying attention, which she was thankful for.

"I- ummm… Beth, honey why don't you go get in line, I'm just going to grab my tea and I'll be right over there."

"Alright." The blonde shrugged and took the cart from her mother.

"Amelia, quit texting or the phone is mine."

"Okay, sorry." The girl said and stuck the phone in the back pocket of her jeans.

"Rachel?" Shelby said trying to get her attention.

"Mom?" the brunette looked at her mother with questioning eyes.

"Go on with your sister." She told the girl.

"Fine." The girl sighed.

"Mom, can I get some candy?" Beth asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes at the thought of the girl's sweet tooth, she could pack it in more than anyone in their family and you wouldn't be able to tell because the girl was tall and slim.

"Mommy, please." Beth pouted while batting her eyelashes.

Rachel didn't even bother looking at Shelby, she was sure her mother's face had pain written all over it.

"Okay, okay but you and your sister each get one candy." She told the girl sternly knowing exactly how sneaky her kid could be.

"You're the best!" Beth squealed before kissing Rachel's cheek, grabbing her sister's hand and running off.

Rachel closed her eyes trying to think of what to say, but just couldn't, she didn't think she'd run into Shelby at all.

"Rachel, what is going on?" Shelby asked.

"I'm sorry?" she answered trying to stall.

"Beth… I don't understand."

"There's nothing for you to understand, Shelby." Rachel replied while grabbing her tea.

"But Beth-"

"_Beth_ is my daughter- look, I'm sorry I know that must sound horrible, but it's just the fact of the matter."

Rachel turned and looked at the woman who gave birth to her, seventeen years had passed and Shelby was still as beautiful as ever. Her hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail but she could see it was lighter with caramel highlights and she didn't look her age that was for sure. Hell Shelby could easily pass as Rachel's older sister if she wanted, her mother looked healthy and Rachel was glad. Despite everything that went on between them, Rachel loved her mother very much and thought of her often, which is why she had asked everyone to keep information about her mother to themselves unless it absolutely needed her attention, she just couldn't talk about her mother it was too painful. But here she was standing in front of her in an aisle at the damn supermarket for crying out loud.

"Rachel-" Shelby looked at her daughter with such sadness and confusion.

"I didn't even know you still lived here I asked everyone to keep information about you to themselves, but I guess that didn't work in my favor, did it? I can't leave Lima right now I'm here for family and I'm sorry that this is being thrown in your face… that wasn't my intention. I have to go before my cart gets filled with candy."

"Does she even know about me?" Shelby finally asked.

"Yes… and no." Rachel sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"She knows that she was adopted and I told her about you, but I just didn't tell her your name or how we all knew you. Beth's nickname is _The Inquirer, _that girl could put Barbra Walters to shame… I answered what I could but I- she was satisfied with what I did tell her and she never really brought it up again and I think what I did tell her was a lot to process anyways." Rachel explained while looking at the box in her hand.

"I-" Shelby began but the ringing of Rachel's cell phone interrupted.

"Sorry," Rachel mumbled before grabbed her phone from her purse "Yes?"

"Okay, I'm coming." Rachel sighed "No Beth, I said only one… because I said so, and if you don't quit bugging you won't be getting any at all. Beth, I'm going right now and I mean it no more." Rachel ended the phone call and tossed her phone back in her purse.

"I need to go." Rachel said.

She stopped by Shelby and was about to say something but just couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I'm sorry." Rachel softly said before she practically ran away, once she rounded the corner she stopped and sobbed into her hands. After a minute she quickly took deep breaths and wiped her eyes before pulling on her show face.

She made her way to the register where she spotted the two girls laughing over something.

"Thank God you're here, Bee keeps trying to sneak candy even after you said not to." Amelia informed.

"Such a tattle." Beth mumbled.

"Actually I was thinking we could have a movie night, what do you think?"

"Can we get more candy?" Beth asked innocently.

"Sure, why not." She shrugged.

"Sweet! More over happy meal I need my candy." Beth grabbed an arm load of assorted candy and dumped them in the cart.

"She comes up with the weirdest nicknames." Amelia said while shaking her head at her older sister's behavior.

"I just want to know where it all goes."

"Same way it goes in, I suppose." Amelia smirked.

Rachel lightly smacked her arm and chuckled.

Rachel watched as Amelia made her way over to Beth and began picking out her own junk food and all she wanted to do was run out of the store and cry, but she held it together for daughters, had she turned around she would have seen Shelby walk out of the store with tears running down her face.

Seeing her mother brought up a lot of memories, ones that she spent the past seventeen years trying to forget the same ones that cause so much heartache and pain. But then there were the ones haunted her in her sleep, the ones that she wanted so desperately to change but couldn't.

* * *

**A/N: I don't want to say this is a one shot because I'm not opposed to making this a story but I would love your feedback. I really hope you liked this. xo**


End file.
